Trivia / The Lion King (1994)

• Acting for Two: Jim Cummings as Ed and the big-headed mole-rat. He also does Scar's last verse in "Be Prepared" after Jeremy Irons' voice gave out.
• All-Star Cast: The film that started the trend of hiring a slew of name actors for an animated film rather than less well-known voiceover specialists. Though it is not the first to do so, it is the most successful movie in the Disney animated canon for a reason and this was a big part of it. In all, you have Matthew Broderick and Jonathan Taylor Thomas^note who was one of the biggest child actors at the time as Simba, James Earl Jones as Mufasa, Jeremy Irons as Scar, Moira Kelly as Nala, Nathan Lane as Timon, Rowan Atkinson as Zazu, Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi, Cheech Marin, as Banzai, and Jim Cummings as Ed.
• Author's Saving Throw: Following the fan backlash as a result of Don Hahn remark's that Mufasa and Scar weren't related, the film's co-director, Rob Minkoff, appeared in an episode of Honest Trailers Reactions where he reconfirmed that they were indeed brothers.
• Cash-Cow Franchise: The most successful traditionally animated film of all time; spawned a Cash-Cow Franchise including video games, a hit Broadway show which runs to this day, a Direct to Video sequel and a midquel, two reasonably successful TV series released twenty years apart and a hugely successful photorealistic remake.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Nathan Lane originally auditioned for Zazu and Ernie Sabella for one of the hyenas. Upon meeting each other at the recording studio, the actors, who at the time both co-starred in Guys and Dolls, were asked to record together as hyenas. The directors laughed at their performance and decided to cast them as Timon and Pumbaa.
• Celebrity Voice Actor:
  • While the Latin American Spanish dub primarily uses professional voice actors for the characters, singer Kalimba Marichal provided young Simba's singing voice.
  • In the Japanese dub, Pumbaa is voiced by theater actor Atomu Kobayashi, who reprised the role in the Japanese version of the musical.
• Creator Backlash: This happened before the movie even came out! Despite being credited as one of the people behind it, Jeffrey Katzenberg clearly favoured Pocahontas more so than The Lion King that when a large amount of Pocahontas animators jumped ship to work on The Lion King instead, Katzenberg campaigned to have production on this film shut down completely, before ultimately deciding to give it a fair shake (though he was convinced until the end that Pocahontas would be much more successful).
  • It's important to remember, though, that it took The Lion King several rewrites to find its story and tone, whereas Pocahontas was based on a confusing mix of folklore and history that was already deeply ingrained in the public imagination, so the crew behind the latter film had a clearer idea of what it was going to be like from the very beginning. Besides that, Pocahontas was considered to have the greatest dramatic potential for its central message of interracial tolerance.
• Cut Song:
  • Mufasa was to have an upbeat song early in the film called "To Be King", in which he sang about his responsibilities as steward of the Pride Lands, with Zazu pumping up the perks of kingship. It was cut partly because it was deemed out-of-character for the dignified Mufasa, and partly because it didn't suit James Earl Jones' voice. It was partially revisited for The Lion Guard.
  • In the original King of the Jungle treatments, Sarabi was to sing a lullaby called "The Lion In The Moon" to soothe Simba after his traumatic experience in the Elephant Graveyard.
  • At one point, there was a reprise of "Be Prepared", which was sung after Scar tells the pride of Mufasa's death.
  • "Warthog Rhapsody", which was ultimately replaced by "Hakuna Matata." Later, it was reworked for The Lion King 1 ½ as "That's All I Need."
  • A "work in progress" trailer that was attached to the beginning of the Walt Disney Classics VHS of The Fox and the Hound had a snippet of a different version of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight". Unfortunately, only a few of these songs made it onto the extra features of the Platinum Edition DVD and the Diamond Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack; this was not one of them. Keep Circulating the Tapes indeed.
  • Originally, "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" was going to be about how Timon and Pumbaa felt about Simba and Nala's blossoming relationship. The final version of the song only touches on this very briefly at the beginning and end. Elton John originally wrote the song to be sung by Simba and Nala, and was mortified when he learned Timon and Pumbaa would be singing it - and as director Rob Minkoff affirmed through a Honest Reactions video, he wanted the song to be a serious love song.
  • "He Lives In You" was originally meant to be included in the original movie, but was cut and wound up being released as the first track of Rhythm of the Pride Lands, before being used (in abbreviated form) as the opening song of Simba's Pride. However, it is retained in the Broadway adaptation and in the end credits of the 2019 remake.
• Development Gag: In early story treatments, Scar was a baboon. His line where he says he'd be "a monkey's uncle" if Simba became king is likely a reference to this.
• Dueling Works: With A Troll in Central Park. Both The Lion King and A Troll in Central Park were animated musicals released in 1994, in which the protagonist makes friends while banished from his homeland. Needless to say that our feline protagonists beat the tar out of the trolls, and here's how. The Lion King became the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time, while A Troll in Central Park was a major bomb that year, causing former Disney animator, Don Bluth's studio, Sullivan Bluth Studios to file for bankruptcy in 1995 and join Fox with Anastasia in 1997.
• DVD Commentary: The Deluxe LaserDisc includes one by directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff and producer Don Hahn — the first commentary ever provided for a Disney Canon film. It has since accompanied the movie again on almost all of its subsequent home video re-releases, starting with the Platinum Edition DVD.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • Jonathan Taylor Thomas had his back tapped when recording his shouts for the elephant graveyard scene, specifically the part where Simba and Nala ride down an elephant's vertebrae.
  • In a session for the wildebeest stampede, the director told Thomas to visualize his mother falling. Instead of the line "DAD!", Thomas screamed "MOM!" on his first take.
• Executive Meddling:
  • A positive and amusing example: Mufasa's infamous death scene was originally several seconds shorter than it appeared in the final film. At one pencil test review, Jeffrey Katzenberg turned to the animators, pointed to his dry eye and announced "I'm not cryin'!" The result was a longer scene that touched every single emotional nerve in an effort to become as sad as possible.
  • A more traditional example with the Licensed Game: The infamously difficult second level was made more difficult in the last moments of development, due to a mandate that it be difficult enough to keep renters from finishing it before the return date, thereby encouraging them to buy it.
• God Never Said That: There have been claims (usually by people discussing the "Kimba controversy") that Matthew Broderick said he was initially told he would be voicing Kimba. This is actually a pretty serious misquote; in the interview where he discusses the topic, Broderick says that this was a misunderstanding on his part, one that came about partly because he'd watched the original Kimba anime when he was younger.
• In Memoriam: The film is dedicated to Walt Disney Company president Frank Wells, who died in a helicopter crash three months before the film was released.
• Kids' Meal Toy:
  • At Burger King, there were toys of Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Rafiki, Scar, Timon and Pumbaa together, and Ed the hyena. There was another promotion for the film's VHS release featuring finger puppets of Simba, Mufasa, Rafiki, Scar, Pumbaa, and Ed.
  • At McDonald's, at least in Europe, there were 4 posable figurines; Simba, Scar, Zazu, and Timon and Pumbaa together. There were also four different puzzles of scenes from the movie, one of which was of Mufasa's death◊.
  • In Australia, Red Rooster sold character mugs of Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, and Scar.
  • Subway gave out reusable bags and wrist bands in honor of the 2011 rerelease.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition:
  • In 2003, The Lion King became the first of three Platinum Edition DVDs^note followed by Aladdin and Cinderella to also receive a Gift Set, bundling the 2-Disc DVD together with the companion book The Journey and some character sketches signed by the animators.
  • In 2014, the year of the film's 20th anniversary, Walt Disney Records released a 2-Disc version of the soundtrack, to kick off the high-end Legacy Collection line. Contents include remastered versions of seven songs from the movie, the complete score available legally for the first time, some instrumental demos, Elton John's pop versions of some TLK tunes, and two songs not included in the original theatrical cut ^note  the Cut Song "Warthog Rhapsody", and "The Morning Report", a number transferred from the Broadway musical to the movie's 2003 Platinum Edition DVD and VHS, then removed again for the 2011 3D conversion, all packaged inside a digibook of concept art, lyrics, and production notes from Don Hahn.
• Manual Misprint: One of the lyric sheets for the soundtrack gets "Be Prepared" wrong, reading "You won't get a sniff out of me" instead of "without me."
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: Most of the top animators picked working on Pocahontas instead of The Lion King, as they thought that would become Disney's next critical darling/box office hit. Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was one of the main brains behind The Lion King, was the biggest victim of this because this trope combo happened to him FOUR times.^note The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective earliest, then Oliver & Company and The Little Mermaid, and The Prince of Egypt and Shrek at DreamWorks Animation later.
• Nintendo Hard: Enforced via Executive Meddling. The SNES version of the Licensed Game is incredibly punishing, requiring precise movements, lots of level memorization, and fast reflexes. Disney told the game's developers to make the game intentionally more difficult than planned, as the game was released during the boom of rental stores, and a difficult game meant it would be nigh impossible to beat during the initial rental period, encouraging consumers to go out and buy it instead of renting it multiple times in a row.
• Non-Singing Voice: Simba and Nala have separate actors for their speaking and singing voices, both young and adult ^note A particularly bizarre decision in the case of Matthew Broderick (Adult Simba) who is a renowned Broadway performer. Jeremy Irons sings some of Scar's lyrics, but partway through, the harsher lyrics were replaced by that of Jim Cummings, since Irons couldn't sing the more demanding parts after "YOU WON'T GET A SNIFF WITHOUT ME!" line in "Be Prepared", resulting in Cummings subbing for him.
  • In the Castilian Spanish dub, most of the cast was this with the exceptions of Sergio Zamora (adult Simba), Marc Pociello (young Simba), Miguel Ángel Jenner (Pumbaa) and Eduard Doncos (Zazu).
  • The same goes in the Latin American Spanish dub, being the sole exceptions Francisco Colmenero as Pumbaa, Carlos Petrel as Scar, Eduardo Tejedo as Zazu and Karla Falcon as young Nala.
  • Very downplayed in the Japanese dub: The only voice actor who didn't sing their own songs was Junko Yamamoto as young Nala, which were sung by Yukiko Morishita instead.
• The Other Darrin: A few musical versions, which is par for the course for Disney, with some notable aversions.
  • When it was apparent that Jeremy Irons wouldn't be able to hit the high notes near the end of "Be Prepared" combined with the fact that he just blew his voice out after yelling "YOU WON'T GET A SNIFF WITHOUT ME!", Jim Cummings stepped in to record the last verse. Only trained ears can hear the difference.
  • Jeff Bennett performed the singing vocals for Zazu in the "Morning Report" song added into the Special Edition of the movie.
  • Replacing Matthew Broderick in "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" was questioned, since Broderick was Broadway-trained just like Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Whoopi Goldberg, normally associated with playing sympathetic, wise and/or funny characters and the Trope Namer for the Whoopi Epiphany Speech, does the voice of a malevolent and thuggish hyena.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Banzai is voiced by Jesús Barrero, who, at the time when the movie was released, his most famous role was Pegasus Seiya
  • In the Castilian dub, Ricardo Solans is no stranger at voicing villains but his performance as Scar bears some resemblance of the over-the-top (not necessarily a bad thing) way he voiced Dustin Hoffman's Captain Hook. Also, this is one of Solans' very, very, very few animated roles.
• Referenced by...: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
• Science Marches On: Rafiki is a mandrill, albeit an inaccurately portrayed one, that is referred to as a baboon. Since 1989, mandrills are classified under the Mandrillus genus rather than the Papio genus.
• Sleeper Hit: As mentioned under Magnum Opus Dissonance, Disney executives considered The Lion King to be nothing more than a filler on the way to the real hit, Pocahontas. Instead, Pocahontas underperformed commercially (relative to expectations) and critically. The Lion King went on to be the highest grossing traditionally animated film ever, which it still holds today, and is still widely regarded as one of the greatest animated films of all time.
• So My Kids Can Watch:
  • Hans Zimmer admitted that the only reason he agreed to compose the film's score was because his then 6-year old daughter was too young to watch any of his other movies and wanted to do a film he could actually take her to the premiere for.
  • A delayed example but Matthew Broderick said in an interview promoting the film he was excited when he'd have kids for them to see him as the lead in a Disney movie.
  • James Earl Jones said he did the movie mainly because his 11 year old son loved animation and wanted to do a movie he could watch.
• Throw It In!: Nathan Lane supposedly ad-libbed some of his dialogue, including the "hula" line.
• Troubled Production: The film first suffered from lack of internal faith - only up-and-coming animators or people who wanted to do animals picked up the project, with most going to work on Pocahontas instead. One of the directors, Oliver & Company director George Scribner, who had even traveled with the other director Roger Allers and other people to Africa for reference, left as he disagreed on turning the film into a musical while his intention was focusing on the natural aspects. The script was so bad that it needed a reworking with the help of the directors of Beauty and the Beast - and still was being fine-tuned during production, with completed scenes being reanimated due to dialogue changes. And just months before release, the Northridge earthquake hit Los Angeles, shutting off the studio and forcing animators to finish their work from home. Thankfully it was all worth it in the end.
• What Could Have Been: Has its own page.
• Word of Gay: Timon and Pumbaa's VAs consider them to be a gay couple.
• Word of Saint Paul:
  • Jim Cummings (voice of Ed), believes Ed is faking his stupidity.
  • Likewise, Alex Kupershmidt — co-supervising animator (with Dave Burgess) of all three main hyenas — has stated that "[T]he directors treated Ed as a guy who knew the score, but pretended to be an idiot, and that's basically how I treated him."
• Working Title: Before it was released, the film was originally called King of the Jungle. This was scrapped when someone pointed out that, well, lions don't live in the jungle. Other potential titles were King of the Beasts and King of the Kalahari.

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